Caribou season for Colorado???

[guppie9]

Caribou killed by car after making surprise appearance in Colo.

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) -- Wildlife officials were puzzled by the rare appearance a caribou that was struck and killed by a car in Colorado this week, hundreds of miles from its normal range.

The buck, weighing an estimated 350 pounds and sporting a large rack of antlers, was spotted Tuesday grazing beside U.S. 85 about 10 miles south of Greeley and 40 miles north of Denver.

Startled by the horn of a passing train, the animal dashed into the path of a car and was struck and killed, said Gene Fisher, a state Department of Transportation employee who witnessed the incident.

Caribou normally live in the arctic regions of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland.

"We don't know where a caribou would come from," state Division of Wildlife manager Chad Morgan told the Greeley Tribune in Wednesday's editions. "We don't know of any farms that have them in this area. I've been here four years, and I've never seen one."

The Colorado Department of Agriculture, Division of Wildlife and State Veterinarian's office said they had no records of caribou in Colorado.

The caribou was taken to a transportation department facility near Greeley.


Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune, http://www.greeleytribune.com

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

I'll be a son of a gun! What about every year someone claiming to have seen a Grizzly in Colorado? Heck, If a Caribou can travel 2000 miles, why can't a Grizz travel 500? Good Read. John

 

[mtmiller]

Heck, I didn't know they were called bucks.

 

[A-con]

Last year, a wolf in Colorado, this year a caribou.
Whats next, musk ox ?

 

[justdada]

Oak, you're letting me down...
I thought for sure, you would have been the first to find this!
Pretty cool that fellow travelled all the way down here.
Sad that he was hit by a car though.
I'm curious to see if they figure out where it came from.

 

[Oak]

I'm skeptical that he came from anywhere other than someones corral. I think I remember seeing caribou at some Christmas santa display somewhere near Ft Collins in the last couple of years.

 

[IDHunters]

There are woodland caribou in northern Idaho. Still quite a ways to travel "undetected" and there isn't a really strong population.

Probably someone's pet.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Oak, Are you suggesting that this might just be Donnor or Blitzen? Thank Goodness it did'nt have a Red Nose! John

 

[MarvB]

Wildlife officials were puzzled

....puzzled because they didn't know if it was a bull or a buck??

 

[Ithaca 37]

I'm like Oak. I doubt very much the caribou came from Idaho or Canada. Probably somebody's pet.

 

[mtmiller]

Without a doubt, this critter didn't migrate from the north country.

Still would be a double take to see while driving down the road.

 

[MarvB]

Caribou killed in La Salle


Mike Peters, (Bio) [email protected]
October 18, 2006

Hours before a snowstorm hit northern Colorado on Tuesday, an animal that is normally found in snowier climes about 2,000 miles to the north appeared in the middle of Weld County.

State employee Gene Fisher was driving on U.S. 85 just south of La Salle when he saw the strange animal. "It was a caribou," Fisher said later, but as he watched it grazing beside the highway, tragedy struck.

A passing train and its whistle startled the caribou, and it ran onto the highway and into the path of a car. The caribou was killed upon impact, and the driver of the car stopped.

"He got out, looked at his car, saw me and just jumped back in and took off," Fisher said of the driver.

The caribou -- a buck -- had a large rack of antlers. Colorado State Trooper Shannon Straley said he counted 45 points on the antlers. They estimated the animal weighed about 350 pounds.

Fisher, the Colorado Department of Transportation employee who witnessed the accident, called the state patrol to report it. Trooper Straley: "I got the call, and the dispatcher said a car hit a caribou, and I said, 'A what?'"

The men loaded the large caribou into the back of a transportation department truck and drove it to the offices in Evans. A bow hunter, Fisher immediately recognized the animal as a caribou. At the transportation department offices, he met with Division of Wildlife manager Chad Morgan.

"We don't know where a caribou would come from," Morgan said. "We don't know of any farms that have them in this area. I've been here four years, and I've never seen one."

The caribou is a species of reindeer. They live mostly in the arctic regions of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. There also are large herds in northern Europe and in Siberia, Russia. The Colorado Department of Agriculture, Division of Wildlife and the State Veterinarian's office have no records of caribou in Colorado.

« CARIBOU OR REINDEER?

According to literature, the caribou is a wild species of reindeer. The animals look the same, but the caribou is larger in size, between the size of a deer and an elk.

I had to laugh at the comments left by people in the Greeley paper who read the article...kinda sounds like HuntTalk:

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 02:14:42 PDT
A male would be called a Bull not a buck.

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 07:13:35 PDT
Did he have a green card?

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 07:15:14 PDT
So why was the driver in such a hurry to flee the scene? An illegal perhaps?

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 08:33:34 PDT
Or perhaps the driver was late for something. SHEEESH! Do you read the paper every day just looking for some thing to throw the whole immigration crap into? I think maybe you need to get a life!

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 14:11:14 PDT
SICK,SICK,SICK

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 07:24:56 PDT
After viewing the photo, it is not a caribou, but a reindeer. The rack is all wrong to be a caribou and the color of the hide is too light.

This is probably a domestic reindeer. The massive amount of points on the front shovels of the antlers lead me to believe it from a game farm since the genetics of game farm animals produce such an odd rack.

We will see.

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 09:47:05 PDT
I just talked to the owner. It is definitely a caribou..........

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 09:48:34 PDT
Did it have a red nose???

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 11:31:03 PDT
Who do you think it was, Bill Clinton?

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 12:08:56 PDT
Has anyone looked at a picture of a caribou lately?

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 18 @ 12:42:05 PDT
Just went hunting for Caribou in Alaska....if I knew they were in my backyard I wouldn't have gone so far.

Re: Caribou killed in La Salle
by Anonymous on Thursday, October 19 @ 10:24:56 PDT
Dasher and Dancer,
And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and...and...

OH MY GOD! THEY KILLED BLITZEN![/QUOTE]

 

[shoots-straight]

That thing is a fuggen raindeer somone let out.

 

[280]

game farm escapee

 

[noharleyyet]

..funny chit Marv.

 

[gUiTaRzAn]

I'll be a son of a gun! What about every year someone claiming to have seen a Grizzly in Colorado? Heck, If a Caribou can travel 2000 miles, why can't a Grizz travel 500? Good Read. John

Last year, a wolf in Colorado, this year a caribou.
Whats next, musk ox ?

looks like i might just have to sit and wait in colorado rather then spend $lots and lots of american dollars$ to go to alaska. ...

 

[guppie9]

Here's an update.....

Caribou killed on Colorado highway came from private herd

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) -- Wildlife officials have solved the mystery of the Colorado caribou.

Wildlife officials who said they didn't know of any caribou in the state said an estimated 350-pound buck that was struck and killed by a car on U.S. 85 about 10 miles south of Greeley earlier this week came from a private herd.

"A Weld (County) man just has them as a fun deal," said state Division of Wildlife manager Chad Morgan.

He declined to release the name of the owner, who was not cited for any violation.

"It's an unfortunate incident," Morgan said.

The animal might have been scared out of its corral by coyotes, officials said. Startled by the horn of a passing train, the animal dashed into the path of a car and was killed, said Gene Fisher, a state Transportation Department employee who saw the incident.

Caribou normally live in the arctic regions of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and some live in northern Europe and the Siberia, Russa.

---

Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune, http://www.greeleytrib.com

 

[MarvB]

....and it's still a "buck" eh?